I'm definitely buying this, but having it on BD would be so nice *-* Wonder why they were unable to get the BD license.

It doesn't say in the article they were unable to get it. However, it's possible they were unable to negotiate for it, or that it was unavailable. Bluray rights also tend to increase the cost of the license, so it's also possible they didn't think it was worth the added cost.

Of course, it's also likely they couldn't get the appropriate masters to do a Bluray release. So far Discotek hasn't done any bluray releases, and I doubt Lupin would be the series they would want to start with, especially given it's relative lack of success in North America.

I'm definitely buying this, but having it on BD would be so nice *-* Wonder why they were unable to get the BD license.

It doesn't say in the article they were unable to get it. However, it's possible they were unable to negotiate for it, or that it was unavailable. Bluray rights also tend to increase the cost of the license, so it's also possible they didn't think it was worth the added cost.

Of course, it's also likely they couldn't get the appropriate masters to do a Bluray release. So far Discotek hasn't done any bluray releases, and I doubt Lupin would be the series they would want to start with, especially given it's relative lack of success in North America.

Of course, but there must be some decent amount of sales for them first to get First Contact a few years back and now to pick up an actual TV series (given it's not the extraordinarily long Red Coat series, but a TV series nevertheless).

I'm sure the DVDs will look amazing even if it isn't on BD. Everything they've put out so far has.

@trunkschan90
It will definitely be subbed only. Only things they've put out that have had dubs are things they had been dubbed by other companies years ago.

So is this the season that precedes the one that Geneon put out? I'm thinking it is. Wow - this is kind of like h*ll freezing over, if so! I don't think anyone ever thought they'd put that one out, any more than someone getting Macross 7 or Macross Frontier out of licensing limo.

As for a BD release - uh no, just NO. A anime this old (1971) would like like cr*p on BD. It's kind of like making a letterbox version of the Wizard of Oz (1939). It's actually been done (the Wizard of Oz, that is), for those who don't know, but it really didn't help a thing IMNSHO, seeing the film was made in 4:3 (it pre-dates Widescreen by a good twenty years) and wasn't intended for the Widescreen ratio (there's actually a webpage about this here http://www.widescreen.org/​widescreen_academy.​shtml ). Now a nice master/remaster of the early Lupin III episodes is something I would hope for but I don't think it needs a BD treatment because it would simply make it worse looking than it it already is (they just didn't create animes in the 1970s with High Def in mind and no amount of clean up is going to help that issue).

This is the series that ran before the one Geneon licensed did. It ran in 1971. I'm kind of guessing it'll look just as good on dvd as it would on bluray given the kind of materials likely available.

trunkschan90 wrote:

I wonder if it will include a dub or be subtitled only?
It'd be nice if they brought back the original cast.

Discotek usually only includes dubs if they're preexisting ones [ie- DNA Angel, Galaxy Express 999, Project A-ko, first 36 FOTNS eps], with subtitled releases for where none exist. I figure we're obscenly lucky to be getting this as it is.
More Lupin III?
From 1971?
Seriously, amazed this is happening, and looking forward to it.

anime#886 btw- check out the credits, this was the first Lupin Miyazaki worked on [ANN lists him as a director for a little over 1/2 the series episodes], with Isao Takahata directing [or collaboarting, given there's only 23 eps] on it as well. Miyazaki did a few eps of the 2nd series that Geneon released, but it looks like this is one of the series the pre-Ghibli duo had a great deal of involvement in.

So this should be a must have release in that respect.

Last edited by Paploo on Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:23 pm; edited 1 time in total

As for a BD release - uh no, just NO. A anime this old (1971) would like like cr*p on BD. It's kind of like making a letterbox version of the Wizard of Oz (1939). It's actually been done (the Wizard of Oz, that is), for those who don't know, but it really didn't help a thing IMNSHO, seeing the film was made in 4:3 (it pre-dates Widescreen by a good twenty years) and wasn't intended for the Widescreen ratio (there's actually a webpage about this here http://www.widescreen.org/​widescreen_academy.​shtml ). Now a nice master/remaster of the early Lupin III episodes is something I would hope for but I don't think it needs a BD treatment because it would simply make it worse looking than it it already is (they just didn't create animes in the 1970s with High Def in mind and no amount of clean up is going to help that issue).

You know HD and BD doesn't equal widescreen, right? ~_~

Oz and Lupin both look spectacular on BD, having been remastered flawlessly from the original film.

Travel back in time (and maybe have your gender swapped) to seven different periods of Japanese history, all from the comfort of your couch.― The history of Japanese civilization is expansive, predating the Common Era by 10,000 years (the Jomon period). There's much more ground to cover compared to what kids get in U.S. history classes in high school, which rarely cover anything before the Boston T...

Junji Ito's death-stench horror gets the deluxe treatment with a new hardcover omnibus, but the subject matter might not work for everyone.― Junji Ito is inarguably one of the masters of horror manga, utilizing both horror (physical revulsion) and terror (psychological reaction) to create gut-churning tales of the world gone mad. To a degree, he carries this out in his two-volume series Gyo from 200...

Voice actor/director/professional Dungeons & Dragons player Liam O'Brien returns to the podcast after a 5-year hiatus to discuss his roles in Fate/Zero and Sailor Moon, along with the landscape for anime voice acting now and what it's like to be Gollum.― ANNCast Episode 234: Podcastoes O'Brien Get the Flash Player to see this player. Voice actor/director/professional Dungeons & Dragons player Liam ...

If you went to an anime convention this summer or have used the internet lately, you may notice anime fans seem to have fallen in love with Steven Universe. Why? Because the show loves them right back.― If you've been to an anime convention in the past year, you've probably seen colorful, gem-studded cosplay like this filling the hallways. Photo credit links: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom...

If you've got questions for the director of the high-flying fantasy series The Pilot's Love Song, we've potentially got answers for you!― We've been given the opportunity to interview The Pilot's Love Song director Toshimasa Suzuki, and we need your help! NISA, who will be releasing the fantasy action drama The Pilot's Love Song on bluray September 22nd, asked for fan questions for Mr. Suzuki, whos...

Bee-Train's 2001 girls-with-guns classic returns on Blu-Ray, and holds up surprisingly well, despite some mediocre animation.― Not all older series deserve the Blu-Ray treatment. For some it is because the show just isn't as iconic as people might like to think, while for others it's because the quality was never BD worthy in the first place. Noir, fortunately, does hold up well enough that its tran...

Egypt Arc is JoJo in peak condition, as memorable and engaging an adventure as you could hope for. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is back.― When we last left our heroes, they'd just arrived on the shores of Egypt, escaping the literal jaws of defeat in order to finally save Jotaro's mother. The journey there had been a lengthy and sometimes inconsistent one, with their various adventures indeed being plen...

The creator of the hit manga, recently adapted into a popular anime series, talks about her inspirations, how she got her start, and what it's like to watch your manga become a TV show.― As you might guess from the story, the main character of the story is a high school roughneck named Ryu Yamada. Yamada meets cute, quiet, and studious Urara Shiraishi, who is his complete opposite in almost every wa...